Ignatius Spencer

Father Ignatius of St Paul (1799–1864), born as Hon. George Spencer, was a son of the 2nd Earl Spencer. He converted from Anglicanism to the Roman Catholic Church and entered the Passionist Order in 1847 and spent his life working for the conversion of England to the Catholic faith.

George Spencer was born in Admiralty House, London. He was the son of George Spencer, 2nd Earl Spencer, at that time First Lord of the Admiralty, ancestor of Diana, Princess of Wales, and her two sons, Prince Harry of Wales, and Prince William, Duke of Cambridge. As a child George lived at the family’s seat, Althorp, and was tutored by his governess and his mother. In 1808 at the age of 9 he and his brother, Frederick, went up to Eton College to continue their education. At Eton George fell under the influence of the Reverend Richard Godley, a stalwart evangelical Anglican who introduced him to various practices of piety and asceticism. Dissatisfied with the education, and evangelical influences, of Eton, the Spencers removed him from the school at Christmas 1814. George’s education was then continued under the direction of one Reverend Blomfield of Buckinghamshire who both provided a more classical education for the boy and prepared him for the sacrament of confirmation. In October 1817 George went up to Trinity College, Cambridge where he studied Divinity. He spent much of the long vacation of 1818 at Tywyn in Merionethshire with his friend Thomas Fremantle. At Cambridge George enjoyed the company of a circle of friends who often spent their days in conversation, taking tea and playing cards. Lady Spencer reproved her son for what she took to be wasted time. However George took a first class honours degree upon going down from Cambridge in 1819. As was expected at the time George set off for his ‘Grand Tour’ with his parents after leaving University. Whilst George clearly enjoyed the cultural aspects of this tour, he was aghast at his encounter with continental Catholicism.

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